Hold it... We CAN Save Cheese!

Today I practiced a lesson in cheese preservation. Like Kellene Bishop @ PreparenessPro I cannot live without cheese. So after some debating, I bought the Red Wax and Natural Brush and was ready to go for it!

I cant tell you how many times I just don't make it all the way through the cheese before it goes bad, and I hate wasting food so this was not just a practice in self sufficiency but also in frugality.

I read the blog from PreparenessPro about preserving cheese and I had to try it. Her instructions were impeccable and easy to follow. I however need to practice my dipping technique as you can see here.

So I purchased my products at a reasonable price from .cheesemaking.com and got my wax and brush promptly and was all set. Set a time that I could be uninterrupted and had let my cheese sit out till it was dry and about room temperature, I keep my home very cool naturally. Then I first brushed on my first coat (as you can see by the extremely chunky piece) on all my pieces then decided to do dip three times then brush one. There is quite a bit of wax on these babies, more than necessary I presume but for a first time try I don't believe I did to bad. However I think I will keep these first ones to myself.

The next chapter in cheese making is the Hard Cheese Kit from the same company and will soon be trying to make my my own cheese. After I have successfully completed that I will try it with the powdered milk from my food storage. Little steps... Little Steps. Lastly, I have several goats and hopefully soon a dairy goat as well and will try the Fresh Goat Milk cheese kit. I tried the Goats Milk from Trader Joes, and absolutely loved it! It was richer and creamier than whole milk, it was truly a treat!




If you have read about the upcoming Dairy situation, I thought it would be a good idea to get a jump start now, but then that is what we preppers do right?

Breaking News: Milk, Cheese, and Butter

By Kellene Bishop at Prepareness Pro

The Agriculture Department is raising prices on your dairy products. (How they have the authority to do this is beyond me, but for now, it is what it is.)

Farmers claim that it costs more to make milk than they get to sell it. Guess what that means? Can you say milk shortage?? In June of this year, The National Milk Producers Federation said they would PAY farmers to slaughter diary cows in order to manipulate the prices higher based on “supply and demand.” (Despicable, I know.)

Michael Swanson, chief economist at Wells Fargo, told Bloomberg, “The milk price remains well below the total cost of production.”

Cheese is expected to increase in price SIGNIFICANTLY as is butter. What does this mean to you? Start buying cheese and butter while you can afford it, and then wax or can it so that you can have it on hand!

By the way, on the internet you’ll find .50 cent off Challenge Butter coupons, $1.00 off coupon of any two pounds of cheese, plus a .75 cents off coupon of a gallon of milk. (There’s also a .75 cents off of any kind of yogurt.)

To capitalize on these coupons, go to coupons.com. If these offers don’t work for your zip code, enter in 84097. You may also want to use zip code 19542. Albertson’s has a double coupon out this week making your cheese, butter, yogurt, and milk VERY affordable. Limit is printing 2 coupon per computer.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.